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Expertise: so... "deep thoughts with Sarah..." well... enjoy!
For anyone who's just randomly found this site and wonders what I'm talking about, this xanga is dedicated to publishing all the stuff I write that's actually useful in some way or another, ie is worth reading, minus all the blurb that usually ends up in blogs. so. if you've made it this far I hope you enjoy reading some of the things I have to say!
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Member Since:
11/12/2003
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| Gaza - prayer requestI just got this urgent prayer request email from Open Doors about the Gaza Baptist Church, and I am passing it on in hopes that you will keep them in your prayers.
I'll try to update properly soon.
"...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
Romans 5:3-5
Dear Christian Friends,
We just received an urgent prayer update on the situation in Gaza, from our colleagues in the Middle East
Palestinian Authority (PA) police of the Fatah party have seized the six-story Church building as a watch point against armed groups supporting the governing Hamas Islamist movement.
The building houses the church’s sanctuary, Gaza’s only Christian library, a guest hostel, and a mammogram clinic.
The Gaza Strip's borders are closed, locking 1.4 million Palestinians into a coastal territory just 27 miles long and 5 miles deep. Frightened Gazans are remaining in their homes, and food and other basics are running short.
Hanna Massad, pastor of Gaza Baptist Church, described the crisis as "the worst situation we've ever gone through in
Pastor Massad also told us that early worship services had to be cancelled on Sunday morning.
For more details visit this page of our website: http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/news/news_archives/001831.php
Pastor Massad asks Christians around the world to pray that:
* God will protect Gaza & its believers
* Believers will experience the power of God's peace
* God will give Pastor Massad strength and wisdom to minister
* There will be no gunfire around the church building and that God will protect the building for his use and glory
* Gaza's leaders will receive wisdom to stop the fighting.
Thank you for your support and for continuing to pray for Gaza's tiny but enduring Christian community with us | | |
| Givinghttp://www.xanga.com/gabrielpeter/560755111/item.html?nextdate=last
I have to admit, that due to the fact the divisions in the UK are often expressed differently, and also when you get into politics and economics, well, my brain just fries, that to be honest, I've no idea what the comparable stats are here.
What it reminded me of, though, is something I overheard several years ago and the contrast it present to something C S Lewis wrote.
What I overheard, was someone saying that Bill Gates had it right - he has so much money that he can give millions out of the interest/excess and never feel it.
C S Lewis wrote that the way to know if you were giving enough was if it stopped you from doing or having something that you wanted to do or have - giving that hurt.
It's interesting to contrast the secular vs Christian worldview.
It's also interesting to look at Mark 12v41-44
The Widow's Offering
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on."
When I read this, it makes me think that we in the west know very little what it really means to give.
"......for God loves a cheerful giver..." - 2 Cor 9v7
Give cheerfully, freely, sacrificially. That's the way to do it.
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| There are nights that are so still
that I can hear the small owl calling
far off and a fox barking
miles away. It is then that I lie
in the lean hours awake listening
to the swell born somewhere in the Atlantic
rising and falling, rising and falling
wave on wave on the long shore
by the village that is without light
and companionless. And the thought comes
of that other being who is awake, too,
letting our prayers break on him,
not like this for a few hours,
but for days, years, for eternity.
enjoy........  | | |
| "I don't care what you've done, inside you I see my son,
there's nothing more that you can do, I've done everything for you"
- Tree63 - and God
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